The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Image guided surgical techniques have been used with success in aiding physicians for performing a wide variety of delicate surgical procedures. These systems are typically used when the visualization of a surgical tool could be obscured by a patient's anatomy, or when the surgical tool is visible but the patient's anatomy could be difficult to visualize.
In order for these systems to be effective, points of the patient's anatomy appearing in the image must be accurately correlated to the instrument being tracked by the surgical navigation system. Accomplishing this correlation requires the accurate calibration of the tracking device. Ultimately, the calibration problem involves determining the position and orientation (POSE) of a set of points displayed by the image plane in the space defined by the tracking markers of the tracked instrument. It can be assumed that the structure associated with the tracking markers and image plane is a rigid body, so once the POSE is determined it remains constant. However, it is not possible to physically measure the POSE of the points in the image plane.
In addition to being robust and accurate, a preferred calibration scheme must be an uncomplicated procedure which can be performed quickly in the field by minimally trained personnel.